


Keith's Demisexual Journey

by ShippingSunAngels



Series: my Demisexual Keith Fic universe [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, Asexuality Spectrum, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Universe, Comfort, Demisexual Keith (Voltron), Demisexuality, Fluff, Lactose Intolerant Keith (Voltron), M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Violence, just your average awkward romance, klance, mild langst, no explicit content, not quite canon compliant, oc aliens - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-08-14
Packaged: 2019-06-01 16:37:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 12,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15147344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShippingSunAngels/pseuds/ShippingSunAngels
Summary: Getting to know Lance causes Keith to catch feels? What's a boy to do? Join Keith as he explores his feelings and learns about asexuality (and in turn demisexuality).Lots of fluff. Mild tears. A cute, female, alien child. Lance is smooth, and Keith's ears turn red a lot.(My first time posting a fic, also)





	1. Lance, space mall trip, and an alien child

People that are always talking about how hot they think other people are tended to get on Keith’s nerves. He just never understood what they meant. When others would say “Oh my god he’s so hot. I would roll around under the sheets with him any time,” Keith felt like he was missing something.

“Sure I get that some people are attractive,” thought Keith, “but I don’t want to… touch any of them like that. I don’t feel that way towards anyone, even the people I think look nice.”

Consequently, Keith didn’t get along very well with Lance.

Lance was always talking about “hot alien babes” (his words) and making dirty jokes. (If Shiro hadn’t cut Lance off with his particle barrier pick up line, Keith might’ve smacked him.)

At this rate, it didn’t seem like Keith and Lance would ever get along.

~~

Lance… isn’t as terrible as Keith originally thought. After being stuck in space with him for a prolonged period as they had been, Keith learned a lot about Lance. For example, as cocky as Lance acts, he has moments in which he seems smaller, moments in which he needs to be reassured and reminded that he’s an important part of the team. 

Although Lance still makes his jokes and flirts constantly, Keith is starting to feel less aggravated by Lance’s presence. Once, after a long fight with a robeast, Lance threw his arm around Keith’s shoulders as everyone walked to the control room to debrief. 

If Lance had done that when they first went out into space, Keith would have stiffened and told him to get off. But now, Keith didn’t mind Lance’s presence. Now, Lance was starting to feel like a warm constant in the vast cold of space.

~~

Keith does not want to go on this mission. It isn’t a hard mission, but he’s exhausted after their most recent encounter with the galra and all he wants to do is sleep. Sadly, he’ll have to wait. There’s a list of things everyone in the castle needs from the space mall: connecter cables for Pidge, a bigger mixing bowl for Hunk-

“And something sparkly for Allura,” says Lance, Keith’s shopping companion for the day.

Everyone else on the team managed to come up with an excuse of something else they were in the middle of, everyone except Lance and Keith. So Coran set them up with a pod (no need to take the lions out for a shopping trip) and sent them on their way.

“I think that’s the whole list. Did I miss anything? Keith? You there, buddy? Space to Keith,” Lance reiterates, pulling Keith away from his thoughts. 

“I think that’s all,” Keith replies, yawning at the end of his sentence.

“Aww,” Lance teases, “is somebody tired? Don’t worry. We’ll be in and out of the mall in no time at all, then you can get to your beauty sleep, not that you need it…”

Keith glances sideways at Lance from the pilot’s seat. Lance grins back and winks playfully. Rolling his eyes in response, Keith pulls his gaze away from Lance and parks the pod. Despite the strong sense that Lance is joking, Keith feels the tips of his ears turn red.

~~

“Man,” Lance says, swinging their bags lightly with each step, “who would’ve thought that finding Hunk a bowl would be so difficult?”

“Considering the fact that we can’t really read any of these signs, it’s not that much of a surprise,” Keith replies.

“That’s fair,” Lance shrugs. “Now we’ve just gotta find something sparkly for Allura.”

“Do we really have to?”

“Yes! I promised her that we’d find her something sparkly, so that’s what we’re gonna…” Lance’s voice trails off as his eyes focus on something Keith assumes he must have missed.

“Lance?”

“What? Oh sorry, I just noticed a little girl over by the fountain. She looks pretty upset.”

Following Lance’s gaze, Keith spots the young girl in question. She has light blue skin, catlike green eyes, and green hair that seems to defy gravity, sticking up out of her head and swaying like seaweed. Her hands are humanlike, only she has four fingers instead of five, and her legs resemble tentacles. She’s wearing a yellow dress and sitting on the edge of the fountain, sniffling and wiping away light green tears.

“We can’t just leave her there all alone…” Lance says, turning to Keith with concern evident in his face.

Keith nods, in response. “Let’s go see what’s wrong…” As Lance approaches the girl and sits on the fountain next to her, Keith follows and stands by Lance’s side.

“Hi, I’m Lance, and this is my friend Keith,” Lance starts softly, gesturing to Keith. “What’s your name?”

Looking down and sniffling, the girl replies, “Ava.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ava. Can I ask you if something is wrong? I noticed you seem a little upset sitting over here all by yourself.”

Raising her eyes to meet Lance’s, the girl, Ava, explains, “I was walking with my mom and I stopped to look at a bracelet… and when I tried to show my mom, she was gone.” Ava sniffles quietly. “I’m lost.”

“You know,” Lance responds, “my friend Keith and I are pretty good at helping people. Can we help you find your mom?”

“Do you really think you can find her?”

“I’m positive that we can,” Lance assures her, smiling encouragingly.

Ava smiles back, stands up, and holds out a hand to Lance. “Let’s go find my mom.”

Lance smiles back at her, takes her hand, and stands. “Can you take us to where you last saw your mom?” Ava nods, then glances at Keith.

“Is he coming too?”

Lance nods and glances at Keith, as Keith nods in confirmation. “He sure is. Keith here is my shopping buddy today.”

“Okay,” Ava replies and starts walking, still holding Lance’s hand and with Keith trailing behind them. “I hope we find my mom soon. I want to ask her if she’ll buy me the bracelet I was looking at.”

“What does this bracelet look like?” Lance asks.

“It’s silver with blue and red gems hanging off of it. It’s sooo pretty!”

“Not as pretty as you, I’m sure,” Lance replies with a cheesy grin. Ava giggles and responds, 

“I think you’re pretty too.”

“Aww, thank you Ava,” Lance answers, obviously feeling sincerely touched by her compliment.

Looking at Lance for himself, Keith couldn’t help but agree. Even in the harsh lighting of the mall, Lance’s skin looks smooth and his hair soft. The smiles he gives Ava are charming and genuine, and Keith feels that he wouldn’t mind if one of those smiles was directed at him. Feeling his ears turn red once again, Keith turns his attention to the booths and stores to keep his eyes off of Lance, because it’s a little strange to be jealous of a little girl for holding your friend’s hand.

“Ooh, look! It’s the bracelet I was looking at earlier!” Ava points to the bracelet she described and leads Lance over to get a closer look.

“Wow, it is really pretty,” Lance comments.

Ava lets go of Lance’s hand to hold the bracelet with both hands, and Lance takes this opportunity to take a step closer to Keith and whisper, “Is it okay with you if we buy Ava that bracelet? I know I said we were buying Allura something sparkly, but just seeing the way she looks at it, I really want to get it for her…”

Keith is surprised by the levels of affection Lance feels for this little girl after not even knowing her for an hour. The compassion and kindness he gives so freely to strangers is impressive.

Just imagine how loving he would be towards someone he knows and cares about, Keith’s mind weaves into his thoughts. His ears turn red for the third time this mission, so Keith focuses his eyes on the bracelet rather than meeting Lance’s eyes.

“If you want to buy her the bracelet, that’s good with me,” Keith finally answers.

“Really? Thank you, Keith.” Lance smiles and clasps Keith on the shoulder for a moment before taking a step back next to Ava. The way Keith’s body feels colder after Lance steps away makes him confused and a bit uncomfortable.

“Hey Ava, how would you like it if we bought you this bracelet?” Lance asks.

“Really??!! You would do that?!!” Ava throws her arms around Lance, hugging him tightly. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had!!”

Lance grins widely and hugs her back as best he can considering she’s essentially hugging his legs. “You’re one of my best friends now too,” he replies sincerely before glancing at Keith, a soft smile still remnant on Lance’s face.

Keith can’t help but smile back, a grin spreading across his face like a rainbow delicately stretching across the sky after a gentle rainstorm.

Keith shakes his head slightly to clear his head and pulls out the rest of their money.

“I can go up to the counter to buy it if you want,” Lance offers.

“Sure,” Keith says, holding out the money to Lance.

As Lance takes the money, Keith feels Lance’s fingers ghost across his palm, and he barely suppresses a soft gasp. Keith’s ears are slowly becoming a red flag for Keith, signaling that his body may be having trouble with Lance being so close to him.

“Come on, Ava. Let’s go buy you that bracelet.” Lance extends his hand to Ava again, and she takes it, smiling up at him like Lance is about to crown her a princess or buy her a pony.

“Let’s go!” Ava exclaims as she pulls Lance towards the counter.

Once Lance and Ava leave to pay for the bracelet, Keith browses the racks in the shop, not because he’s interested in the jewelry as much as he is trying to distract himself from thinking about how warm and patient and kind Lance is with Ava. Looking up from a blue and gold bracelet, Keith notices a woman walk in the general direction of the shop; she looks like Ava only taller and with light purple skin instead of blue. As she’s about to pass the shop, Keith steps out and approaches her.

“Excuse me ma’am, are you by chance looking for your daughter, Ava? Because if so I know where she is.”

Whirling her head towards Keith at the mention of her daughter’s name, the woman replies, “You’ve found my Ava? Where is she? Is she alright? Is she hurt? Is she-“

“She’s fine ma’am,” Keith explains, calmly interjecting into her nervous rant. “She’s inside the shop with my friend right now. He wanted to buy her the bracelet she was looking at when she lost track of you.”

The woman’s sigh of relief is so heavy a weight dropped of her shoulders that it almost makes Keith feel relieved as well. “I’m so glad she’s safe,” the woman says, her eyes filling with the same green tears that Ava was crying when Lance first saw her. “Thank you so much for taking care of my daughter. I was so worried…”

“Mama! Mama! Look at this bracelet my new friend got me!” Ava yells excitedly, running to her mother with the bracelet dangling on her wrist.

“Ava!” her mother cries, pulling Ava into a tight hug and burying her face in Ava’s hair. Softly, her says, “Ava honey please be more careful. I was so worried when I turned around and couldn’t find you…”

“I’m sorry, Mama. I’ll try to be more careful,” Ava replies, pulling away from her mother’s hug to show off her new bracelet. “But look at this bracelet! My new friend, Lance, got it for me! Isn’t it pretty?! Lance says it isn’t prettier than I am though, but I definitely think it’s prettier than all the other bracelets here…”

As Ava rambles to her mother about her new bracelet and her new friend, Keith glances at Lance, who is himself looking at Ava and her mother, smiling at them fondly but also with a hint of melancholy present in his expression. Keith frowns slightly, telling himself that he’ll have to ask Lance about it later.

Once Ava finishes gushing, her mother turns to Lance and takes his hand in both of hers. “Thank you so much for taking such good care of my Ava. I… I can’t thank you enough for your kindness.”

“It was no problem ma’am,” Lance responds with a smile. “Your daughter is a delight. Actually… would you mind if I took a picture of us? To remember her by that is… Only if you’re okay with it though, of course.”

Ava’s mother smiles warmly. “After what you’ve done for my Ava, you can definitely take a picture with her.”

“Thank you, ma’am!”

“Please, call me Mo.”

“It’s been a pleasure to meet you and your daughter, Mo.” Crouching down to rest at Ava’s level, Lance asks, “Would you mind taking a quick picture with me Ava?”

“I would love to!”

“Great!” Lance grins and pulls out his phone, then gets to the camera and holds it up. “Smile!”

Both Ava and Lance grin into the camera and Lance snaps a picture. “Want to do one with silly faces?”

Ava giggles and responds, “Definitely!”

Lance crosses his eyes and raises one eyebrow, while Ava sticks her tongue out and scrunches up her nose. Lance snaps the picture and declares, “That one was perfect. Could we do one more, Ava?”

“Yeah!”

Lance turns to Keith and holds out his phone. “Would you mind taking a picture of us, Keith?”

“Sure, I can do that,” Keith replies, taking the phone from Lance’s hand, careful not to brush against his bare skin to avoid a repeat of earlier.

“Thanks!” Lance says, stepping back to pose with Ava once more.

Keith carefully lines up the phone’s camera and snaps a picture of them.

He looks beautiful even through the camera lens, Keith thinks, immediately regretting this thought and doing his best to push it away.

“You both look great,” Keith comments.

“Ooh! Ooh! I wanna take a picture of you two now!” Ava says.

“That’s good with me if it’s good with you Keith,” Lance adds.

“Sure,” Keith replies, immediately hoping that he doesn’t regret it; after the awkward day Keith’s been having, he’s become apprehensive about being too close to Lance.

“Yay!” Ava takes the phone from and holds it up in front of her face. “Smile!”

Lance throws an arm around Keith’s shoulders and shoots him a grin before angling his face towards Ava and the camera. Lance’s smile is infectious, so as Ava snaps the picture, Keith’s smile is genuine.


	2. Feelings Both Good and Sad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has a cute revelation and Lance has some sad boy feelies. There is comfort and chuckles, I promise.
> 
> Also, a side note: I wrote this stuff a whiile ago, like a few seasons ago, so please expect canon-non-compliant aspects.

After returning to the castle from the mall, Keith had planned to retire to his room and sleep, but now he feels surprisingly awake. Going to the mall with Lance made Keith realize a lot of things, like that Lance is extremely caring and good with kids and that Lance would rather buy a bracelet for a little girl he doesn’t know than buy Allura something sparkly and that Lance’s hair smells really nice and that-

“I think…” Keith considers, “I think I want to hold Lance’s hand…”

Keith rolls over and shoves his face into a pillow, groaning in frustration. Where did these weird urges come from? Keith had never wanted to hold Lance’s hand before… or go on a walk with just the two of them… or hug him tightly and inhale the smell of his shampoo… or crack jokes just to make him laugh… Rolling over to lay on his back and stare at the ceiling, Keith sighs in resignation.

“I have feelings for Lance,” Keith admits softly to himself in the quiet privacy of his room.

Everything made more sense now. The more Keith had learned about Lance while out here in space, the more Keith’s affections for Lance had grown. After all the blushing he did at the mall, there is no way for Keith to deny that he has a crush on Lance.

This is usually the point at which Keith avoids the person of his heart’s affections for as long as he possibly can in hopes of diminishing his feelings, but a moment from today is nagging at him. Despite all of the happiness Lance had oozed for the majority of their shopping spree, Keith can’t help but think about the moment Lance’s smile showed a little more than joy; when Ava was talking to her mother, Lance’s smile was edged with a soft sort of sorrow. He isn’t sure if he’s ready to talk to Lance after having his epiphany in relation to romantic feelings, but Keith can’t leave this alone. Something was obviously bothering Lance, and Keith won’t be able to sleep until he finds out what it is.

Keith sits up and swings his legs off the side of his bed. Taking a deep breath, he stands and walks out of his room, then approaches Lance’s bedroom door. Apprehensive but determined, Keith knocks.

“What’s up?” Lance opens his door with a yawn. Noticing Keith, a small smile crosses over his face. “I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow. You looked exhausted before our shopping spree. Trouble sleeping?”

“Actually, I was… Well I- I wanted to talk to you,” Keith explains, nervousness evident in his tone.

“Okay, wanna come in then?” Lance replies as he steps to the side so Keith can walk inside. 

“Sure, thanks,” Keith says, walking into Lance’s room. 

The layout is very similar to his own room, only the bed is pressed up against the wall across from the door rather than adjacent to it like Keith’s bed is, and there’s a desk to the left of the door as you walk in. 

Lance leans casually against his desk as the door shuts. “So, you have something in particular on your mind? Or did you just come to talk?” His voice has an air of teasing to it, but his face expresses genuine interest in what Keith came here to say.

“I wanted to talk to you about something that happened at the mall… And you don’t have to answer me or anything, but I’m just kinda… concerned, I guess.”

“Kinda concerned you guess… Well I’m all ears, buddy. What’s on your mind?”

“When Ava was talking with her mom, I glanced at you, and you seemed… sad.”

“Oh.” Lance clears his throat and looks down at his feet. “Did I?”

“Yeah, you did. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to! But I was confused and kinda worried, if I’m honest. Are you okay?”

Lance bites his lip and hesitates. His eyes reflect a sadness that worries Keith. What is going on in Lance’s head?

“I- thanks for uh, caring, to start with… I going to be honest though, I really wasn’t expecting that question from you. I was expecting more of a ‘Why are you such a goofball and why did you care so much about a random kid?’” Lance punctuates his words with a chuckle, but it lacks his usual humor and sounds more like an ache leaving his chest.

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to…” Keith softly interjects.

“Well,” Lance begins with a resigned sigh, “it’s less that I don’t want to talk about it and more that I’ve been avoiding thinking about it…”

Lance pauses for so long Keith thinks maybe he’s decided to continue not thinking about whatever this is.

“Do you miss anyone? From Earth I mean… I’m sure that’s a sore spot for you what with your mysterious galra relatives and living alone in the desert and everything, but-“

“Is that what’s bothering you?” Keith interrupts. “You miss someone from Earth?”

“More like a bunch of someones… I miss my brothers and sisters and my little neice and nephew and our neighbor’s old dog and my dad and my mom…” By the end of his list of family members, Lance’s voice trails off to a whisper, almost as if the words are too heavy to leave his lips at his typical volume.

“So when you saw Ava with her mom, it reminded you of how much you miss your mom…” Keith concludes.

Lance nods and sniffles, his eyes downcast and watery like an afternoon weather forecast in the spring. Keith really doesn’t want to see these blue eyes cloud over; watching that would feel more like hail than a spring rain.

“I’m um… sorry for bringing it up. I didn’t mean to make you more upset.”

“That’s okay,” Lance says, his voice breaking as the words leave his mouth. He lets out a humorless, semi-laugh that relieves some of the pressure building in his chest, and he wipes his eyes. “You’re just being a concerned friend. I’m sorry for getting all weepy on you. I’m kind of a- a mess.”

Watching Lance fall apart like this makes Keith’s heart feel like a cracked computer monitor.

Not knowing what else to do, Keith asks, “How long have you felt like this?”

“Since the party with the Arusians.” Lance sniffles, then continues. “I left the party to get away and think about my family. Then Coran came in and showed me on the big space map how far away we are from Earth… It’s just, really hard sometimes. I love my family and I miss them so much but-“ Lance cuts himself off and his expression becomes grim. “We have an important job to do here, so I just have to put my personal problems aside and…”

Lance’s train of thought drifts off when Keith rests a hand on his shoulder. A stray tear trails down Lance’s cheek as his eyes look into Keith’s for the first time since his teary catharsis began. Keith’s empty hand twitches, wanting to reach forward and gently wipe the tear off of Lance’s face, but Keith decides that may be more intimate a gesture than he should be making.

“Lance, the way that you care about people so deeply is part of who you are and part of why you’re such an important part of Voltron. I’m sorry I didn’t know how much you were hurting, and I’m sorry you feel like you had to hide your feelings from all of us. I know I’m not exactly an emotionally open person, but I don’t want you to feel alone, so just know you can talk to me… Or Hunk or Coran or any of us really. We’re a team out here, and we’re here for you. I mean, I don’t have a lot of experience giving hugs, but if you want one, I’ll deliver.” Keith’s ears turn red at this offer he makes.

“I won’t lie to you, the situation out here is pretty rough,” Keith continues, “and I don’t know when it’ll be safe to go back to Earth. But wars don’t last forever, and with how hard you and all the rest of us are fighting, we definitely have a strong chance of seeing Earth again sooner than later.

“And… I know I’m no expert on families and I know we can’t replace your family on Earth, but I like to think of all of us as a family. A really awkward and unconventional sort of family, but still a family. So what I’m trying to say here, I guess, is that you shouldn’t give up hope and that you’re not alone.”

Lance sniffles and wipes under his nose.

“Wow Keith, I think that’s the most words I’ve ever heard you say in a row…”

Keith scoffs slightly and smiles, glad to hear the humor return to Lance’s voice.

“I still feel like kind of a drama queen, but I really appreciate what you said, Keith. Thank you.” Lance’s smile is genuine and reminds Keith of the smiles Lance gave to Ava earlier.

“You’re welcome. And if you really wanna talk about a drama queen, just look at Hunk. One time I passed the kitchen while he was cooking, and I saw him crying over a crack in some random cup.”

Keith’s teasing causes Lance to laugh hard enough that he pulls away from Keith’s hand on his shoulder. Keith misses the feeling of Lance under his hand, but the smile on Lance’s laughing face more than makes up for it.

“Oh man, you’re right. I’ve got some pretty good competition for Space’s Biggest Drama Queen.” Lance grins. “You know, you’re a lot funnier than you seem like you would be.”

“Thanks, I have my moments.”

“You sure do…”

After getting to the bottom of his Lance mystery, Keith’s earlier fatigue once again sets in, and he yawns.

“Ah, there’s the tired Keef from earlier…” Lance places his hands between Keith’s shoulder blades and ushers him towards the door. “You go back to your room and sleep so I can put on my face mask before I forget.”

“Did you just-“ A yawn cuts Keith’s thought short. “Did you just call me ‘Keef’?”

“Nope, pretty sure I didn’t.”

“I’m pretty sure you just did…”

The door opens, and Lance walks Keith out and over to his own door. 

Standing at his door, Keith takes one last glance at Lance. His eyes are slightly red from crying but he looks lighter, like a weight, even just a small one, has been lifted off his shoulders.

“Good night, Lance.”

“Good night, Keith. Sweet dreams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Sorry it's so late. I honestly forgot that I was planning on posting today. Enjoy! :)


	3. Cookie Crumbs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk bakes cookies and Keith has a hard time (with feelings and with eating cookies, no angst though, promise)
> 
> Fluff, no plot tbh. Maybe a little short? But extra cute to make up for that lol

“Hey Keith! You’ve gotta try this!” 

Lance bursts into the lounging area where Keith is currently sitting on the couch trying to read a book Coran gave him, emphasis on trying. (When he had tried to remind Coran that he couldn’t read Altean, Coran had fled the room before Keith could get the words out.) Keith closes the book and sets it aside.

“What’s up, Lance?”

Lance catapults himself over the back of the couch and lands right next to Keith, right next to him. Keith barely stops himself from flinching when Lance’s shoulder bumps into his.

It’s been about a week since Keith’s epiphany about his feelings for Lance, and it’s felt like the oddest sense of both pure joy and pure torture that Keith has ever experienced. Every time Lance throws his arm around Keith’s shoulders or compliments him on a job well done or flattens out a strand of Keith’s hair that’s sticking straight up, Keith nearly combusts with the rush of his heartbeat and the heat flooding his cheeks. 

A lobster would probably be less red than my face has been for the past week, Keith thinks.

Although he loves the attention Lance gives him, it’s sort of a double-edged sword; the more Lance touches and talks to Keith, the more he wants to hold Lance’s hand or stargaze with him or just talk to him. So even though the attention is wonderful, it’s also driving Keith insane, like a man dying of dehydration and only being given droplets of water at a time.

“Hunk made a batch of cookies, actual cookies, not those scaultrite ones that weren’t even really edible. But these ones taste amazing! You have to try one like right now.”

Lance pulls a napkin out of his jacket pocket. Inside of the napkin, he’s wrapped two cookies swirled with a combination of brown and green. Despite the odd color combination, they smell and look amazing.

“Wow, it looks like Hunk really outdid himself this time.”

“You haven’t even tried it yet! Here.” Lance sets the napkin in his lap and breaks one of the cookies in half then holds out one half to Keith’s face. “Try it.”

Feeling his face begin to flush slightly red, Keith carefully takes the cookie piece out of Lance’s hand. Lance chuckles.

“I was gonna feed it to you, but whatever works man.”

“Oh uh…” Keith feels his ears burn firetruck red. “Sorry.”

“No worries,” Lance replies with a grin. “Just tryyyy it. I’m telling you, it’s an experience.”

Keith nods and takes a bite. The flavors take over his tastebuds and Keith’s eyes widen. Hunk’s cookie has the consistency of warm, gooey brownies and a flavor that sort of resembles brown sugar along with an alien taste Keith can’t identify.

“Mmm… this is incredible,” Keith remarks, his mouth still full of cookie.

“Right??! My man Hunk worked some serious kitchen magic making these babies.” Sporting a satisfied grin that spread across his entire face, Lance took a bite of the other half of the broken cookie. “Mmm… it’s like a delicious flavor parade in my mouth.”

Paying more attention to Lance than himself, Keith accidentally swallows before completely chewing his last bite, and he starts coughing violently.

“Woah, Keith, buddy… You okay?” Lance scoots closer and rests a hand between Keith’s shoulder blades. “Having some trouble getting that cookie down?”

Now closer than before, Lance’s thigh presses against Keith’s on the couch and their shoulders are so squished together that Keith’s shoulder has to move in front of Lance’s in order for them to fit next to each other. Keith feels like he’s on fire and a part of him has to urge to jump on Lance and kiss the cookie crumbs off the corner of his mouth. The feeling of Lance patting him on the back pulls Keith’s mind back to reality; he wheezes in an attempt to dislodge the crumbs that got caught in his throat.

“You good, Keith? You choked so hard that you whipped hair into your face…” Lance’s hand extends towards Keith to brush his hair out of his face, and Keith scrambles to his feet.

“I uh…” Keith coughs once more. “I’m gonna go get some water. Thanks for the cookie.”

With that said, Keith bolts out of the room like a man scrambling to get away from a rattlesnake, leaving Lance confused to say the least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Honestly I had a really long day and barely remembered to post. I hope you enjoy :)


	4. Talking it Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has a wonderful talk with Pidge about his feelings (and about demisexuality!!)
> 
> This is probably one of my favorite scenes in this fic. I hope you all love it as much as I do.

Keith had been planning to spend his down time today doing some extra training, or if things got too crowded in the training room (code for: if Lance showed up) he would move to his room. But, as what often happens in life, Keith's day did not go according to plan. 

"Hey Keith, could you come take a look at Green's invisibility software with me?" Pidge asks as Keith wipes sweat off the back off his neck, having been training for the past half hour. 

"Uh, no offense, but isn't that something you usually do with Hunk? I'm not quite as good with tech as you two are..." Keith replies, unsure as to why Pidge would as for his help. 

"Hunk's busy in the kitchen right now baking with Lance. And Coran's taking a nap after trying all morning to recalibrate the particle barrier, so I figure he needs a break. You're kinda the next person on my list."

"On your list?"

“Yes, my mentally prioritized list of people to work with. Sometimes it's nice to have company even if they don't know what I'm talking about."

“That makes sense. Can I clean up and meet you in Green's hangar in about 20 minutes?"

"Sure. I'll meet you there." 

With that settled, Pidge leaves the training room and Keith goes to take a quick shower. 

~~

As Pidge sits on the floor, leaning against her lion's paw and typing away at her laptop, Keith sits nearby, staring at the floor and lost in thought. 

Pidge glances at him through the corner of her eye. "Whatcha thinking about, Keith?"

Perking up at the sound of his name, Keith responds, "Hmm? What did you say, Pidge?"

She chuckles. “I asked what you’re thinking about. You seem pretty lost in thought.”

“Oh uh… I was thinking about Hunk’s cookies from the other day.” The fact that Keith was thinking more about the person who gave him the cookie than he was the actual cookie was practically irrelevant information. (Not really...)

Pidge raises an eyebrow, not quite buying Keith’s answer, then returns her gaze to her laptop and resumes her typing. “They were good cookies…”

“Yeah…” Keith nods, his voice trailing off as he speaks, his gaze resting aimlessly on the floor. 

After staring at the floor for a long moment, Keith notices the absence of typing sounds coming from Pidge’s laptop, and he looks up to find her staring curiously at him. His ears tinge slightly red under her analytical gaze.

“Do you uh-“

“Keith,” Pidge cuts Keith off mid-sentence, “I’d like to think of us as pretty straightforward people. Would you agree?”

“Uh, I guess so, yeah…”

“And you know I respect you and your privacy, right?”

“Yes… Pidge, where is this going?” Keith is starting to feel nervous answering her seemingly random questions. She takes a deep breath before responding.

“I’m gonna be painfully honest. You’ve been acting weird and I think I know why.”

Keith feels his skin grow pale at her words. “I’ve… Weird? What are you-“

“What am I talking about? Well, you’re always hiding in your room, you hardly look up from your plate at dinner, and you almost never participate in group discussions anymore. Like geez I know you’re the loner of the group or whatever, but it’s gotten… almost out of hand.”

Avoiding Pidge’s eyes, Keith responds softly and without conviction. “I’m not acting weird…” Pidge sighs, a gentle, sympathetic edge to the sound.

“Keith, listen… I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or singled out, but it’s hard to miss how you’ve been acting lately and I know from experience that keeping all your thoughts and emotions to yourself really sucks. I won’t push you, but I’m here if you need to talk about whatever-“

“It’s Lance, okay??” The words leave Keith like lava spewing intensely from an erupting volcano. “It’s Lance and his stupid smooth face and soft hair and- uuugh…” Keith pulls his knees to his chest and rests his forehead on his knees, mumbling, “I can’t get his face out of my head and my chest feels tight when he gets too close to me and I’ve never felt any of these things before and I just don’t know what to do…” It’s a relief to let out the feelings he’s been trying to suppress, but the raw honesty of what he’s just said still stings slightly in Keith’s chest.

“Believe it or not, what you’re feeling isn’t unusual…” 

The surprise of hearing Pidge’s voice rise out of the quiet in Green’s hangar is enough for Keith to look Pidge in the eyes once again. Her face is understanding, but Keith isn’t entirely reassured. 

“But… don’t most people just get crushes? And urges all the time or whatever? I’m not one of those people. I’ve never used any word stronger than attractive to describe another person, and even then I was never so… never actually attracted to them… It just doesn’t make sense. I don’t feel these things for the first 18 years of my life and now suddenly I do??” Keith pouts slightly and crosses his arms, his vision returning to an empty spot on the floor as he laments the period in his life before his attraction to Lance.

“You know Keith, that may have been the case with all of the people you've compared yourself to, but there are other people that think and feel the same way you do. You know how there are different sexual orientations based off what gender you are attracted to?”

"Yeah."

“There are also other forms of sexual orientation that deal with actual sexual attraction. Some people are part of the asexual spectrum; identifying as asexual means not feeling sexual attraction towards people. 

"So you said that before Lance you’d never felt like this, correct?”

Keith nods. 

“And you didn’t start feeling like this until you got to know Lance better, right?”

Keith nods again. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, I definitely think you’re somewhere on the asexual spectrum. From what you’ve described, I’d say you’re probably demisexual.”

“Demisexual? What does that mean?”

“It means that you don’t become attracted to someone until you form an emotional connection with them.”

“There’s a word for that?”

Pidge nods, “Back when my brother went to the garrison, I overheard him talking on the phone with his friend one time. They were trying to understand his friend’s crush and I overheard them googling the answers and decided to do a little researching myself. I actually ended up identifying with some of what I read."

"So you're demisexual?"

"Not exactly, but I'm definitely on the asexual spectrum. The important part of this isn't being able to label yourself; what matters is that you understand yourself a little better and you know that what or how you feel doesn't make you unusual."

Keith nods slowly, trying to fully process this new information. “So in my case, you think I'm probably attracted to Lance because I bonded with him and that lines up with what being demisexual means?"

“Yep, that sounds like being demisexual to me.”

“So I guess I understand my feelings a little bit more, but that still doesn’t help me figure out what to do about Lance.” Even just the thought of Lance brings rosiness to Keith's cheeks.

Pidge lets out a soft chuckle. “Sometimes you’ve just gotta go for something you want even when you’re not sure what’ll happen.”

“But what if I tell him and he hates me?! Or never talks to me again. I just… I can’t do it Pidge…”

“Keith,” Pidge says, firmly but with kindness, “Lance will not hate you for saying this to him. I’ve seen him befriend so many of the people he’s attempted flirting with; it’s unreal how unconcerned he is about these kinds of occurrences. But to be honest Keith, I don’t think you’ll be able to get this off your chest and clear your mind if you don’t talk to him.

A resigned sigh leaves Keith’s lips. “Sometimes I think it’s great how smart you are, but others times I hate it.”

A small grin crosses Pidge’s face. “You might not always like my ideas, but they do tend to pan out pretty well in the end…” Pidge punctuates her statement with a yawn.

“This has been a good talk, but I’m tired.” She stands up, brushes off her pants, and picks up her computer. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? If you want to talk more later then we can do that, just let me sleep through the castle's artificial night."

“Good night Pidge, and thank you. You really helped me out today.”

With a smile and her computer in her arms, Pidge replies, “You’re welcome. If something is bothering you like this again, just talk to someone, okay?"

Keith nods. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

"I'm holding you to that... Good night, Keith." 

With that, Pidge exits the hangar, leaving Keith to reflect on his own for a moment. 

He can't help but notice how similarly his talk with Pidge ended in comparison to his talk with Lance. Maybe everyone on the team needs to start trusting and talking with each other more...

A yawn brings Keith back to the present. Feeling sleepy but a little more sure of himself, he leaves Green's hangar to retire for the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this addition came a little late! But it's a strong character development scene for Keith, so I hope the wait is worth it :)


	5. Flowers and Pizza Rolls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance go on a lil' mission together. There's flowers and pizza rolls (and maybe a little something else too). Keith is also trying to work up the courage to talk to Lance about his feelings.
> 
> Lots of cute parts and a little excitement.

Talking about feelings is a lot easier in theory than it is in the actual doing of it. 

Keith has no idea how to tackle his need to talk with Lance. Just being in the same room as Lance makes Keith's skin tingle and his mouth feel dry. Starting a conversation feels almost impossible. 

That is, until opportunity knocks on his door in the form of Lance himself...

"Hey Keith," Lance starts after the door opens and Keith lets him in, "so Allura just talked to me about a kind of side mission. She wanted to know if I would be up to take a couple of days to visit a planet the galra previously inhabited and see if the wildlife survived. This place used to be known for its wildflowers and even though it's not exactly a mission to save the universe, it still sort of preserves the beauty the universe used to have, you know?"

"That sounds like a great mission, Lance. But uh... why are you telling me about it?"

"Well, I told Allura that I would do it, but she said she doesn't want me going alone. I can't ask Pidge to come because she's tuning up the castle's security with Coran and I don't want to make Hunk come with me because the last time he went through an alien flower field he sneezed for weeks afterward. So I thought maybe you would maybe be cool with coming with me..? Only if you want to of course, no pressure."

"Hmm..." Keith takes a moment to consider Lance's offer. He decides that there's no reason to not help Lance with this and it would actually be a good opportunity to talk with Lance; there would be nowhere to hide from his feelings or the person of his affections. "Yeah I'll come with you. It'll be fun," Keith finally answers. 

Lance's face breaks into an excited grin. "Awesome! We'll leave tomorrow if that's okay with you. Allura wants this done and over with as soon as possible."

"Sounds good to me. Are we going to take our lions?"

"Yeah, that way if we run into any leftover galra forces we're not unprotected. We will have to grab some containment units from Pidge before we leave though."

"I can ask Pidge for the containment units."

"Thanks, Keith. We'll need at least twenty of them if Allura is right about all the types of plants we should find."

"Okay, I'll ask her for some in the morning before we leave."

"Perfect." Lance smiles softly. "Thank you for agreeing to come with me. I think this is gonna be a good mission."

Keith easily returns Lance's smile. "I think so too."

Lance checks the time. "Ah shoot, I promised I would help Hunk in the kitchen. See you tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah, see you then, Lance."

With a grin and a wave, Lance leaves the room. Keith's heart flutters with equal parts of excitement and nerves as he considers his upcoming mission with Lance.

~~

The next morning, Keith finds Pidge in the control room typing codes into her computer that are essentially incomprehensible to Keith.

“Uh, hey Pidge?”

Without looking up from her computer, Pidge responds, “What’s up? Looking for more advice or something else?”

Keith feels his ears turn red at her allusion to their earlier conversation. “Something else. I’m going on a mission with Lance to look at samples of plant life, and apparently we need some special containment units. Do you have some we could use?”

“Oh yeah,” Pidge adjusts her glasses and turns to face Keith, “Allura mentioned that to me the other day. I know where some are that’ll work for you. How many do you need?”

“Lance said about 20.”

“That’s a lot of plants. I can take you to them now.” After typing one last sequence of code, Pidge closes her laptop and stands.

“Thanks, Pidge.”

“No problem, Keith. When are you two leaving?”

“Today… This morning actually.”

“That soon, huh? Let’s get you those containment units then.”

As they talk, Pidge and Keith move down the hall to a storage area with rows of shelves full of various items. Looking farther down the rows, Keith notices that the shelving gets dustier; this storage room hasn’t seen a lot of activity in the past 10,000 years.

“Hmm…” Pidge wanders down the rows of boxes and shelves, peering at each label until she comes across the one she’s looking for. “Gotcha! These should be the containment units you need.”

Keith pulls the box Pidge is gesturing too off the shelf and opens it. Inside are dozens of carefully packaged glass tubes with tight seals on either side of each tube. 

“Those guys should seal tight enough to bring them safely back to the castle without the samples getting contaminated.”

“Sounds good. Thanks.”

“Happy to help. Have fun on your mission with Lance.” Emphasizing Lance’s name with a wink, Pidge grins and turns towards the exit.”

Ears now burning red, Keith responds, “Thanks… Oh, and uh… Pidge?”

Pidge stops in the doorway and turns back around. “Yeah?”

“How do you think I should uh… start a conversation with Lance about uh… that stuff?”

“Well, he is a goofy romantic… I’m sure he’d appreciate something cheesy like ‘My lion is red. / Your lion is blue. / You’re a cool guy, / And I’m into you.’ Honestly though, there’s no right or wrong answer. Just make sure you don’t confess with him at the pointy end of your sword.” Pidge concludes with a lightly teasing tone.

Keith nods and mutters to himself, “My lion is red, yours is blue… Okay, thanks Pidge.”

“No problem Keith. See ya when you get back.” As she walks away, Keith hears Pidge joke and chuckle to herself, “At this rate, I should start charging him for advice…”

With Pidge’s advice fresh in his head and the box of containment units cradled in his arms, Keith leaves the dusty storage room, heading to his room to change into his armor and grab the rest of his things.

~~

Watching Lance admire the trees and open fields of flowers makes Keith’s chest feel tight with affections previously unknown to him. Lance is usually a happy, fun-loving guy, but right now feels different. He’s softer and more calm than his usual extroverted self. His fingers brush against each flower with such gentle admiration as he mindfully uproots them to fill the containment units they brought along.

“It sucks knowing that they’ll die because we took them out of the ground, but it is for a good cause and I know Pidge will take good care of them in the lab. To be honest I’m kind of excited to see what Pidge finds out about these flower samples, even though I probably won’t understand all of the scientific lingo.” Lance ends his statement with an offhandedly amused tone, but his reverence of these flowers is undeniably endearing. Keith’s face flushes pink as he considers how Lance might treat him if he were a flower.

Once he’s certain that their latest addition to the flower collection is secure in their wagon (hover technology is so useful for the uneven terrain), Lance notices Keith’s flushed face.

“Hey there buddy, this planet’s three suns getting to ya?” He gently presses the back of his hand to Keith’s forehead.

“Three suns? I thought this planet only has two…”

“That’s where you’re wrong, my friend.” Pulling his hand back to finger gun at Keith, Lance explains with a wink, “I’m the third hot body orbiting this planet.”

Outwardly Keith just chuckles, but on the inside he’s burning up.

Oh quiznak quiznak quiznak, Keith thinks. How are I supposed to stay calm when he’s talking like this? I want to agree but I don’t want to come across as creepy.

Lance points to an area shaded with trees. “Let’s go take some samples from other there. Can’t have my mission partner out of commission ‘cause he’s overheating, now can I?” Lance gives Keith a grin and a pat on the back then starts walking towards the forest. Keith follows, pulling the hover wagon behind him.

Under the trees, thick, exposed roots lay twisted all over the path. (Once again, thank Altea for hover tech in wagons.) Lance stops under a tree harboring plants that look like a hybrid of a flower and a mushroom. He takes a containment unit from the wagon and kneels next to the plant to begin digging it out. 

Taking a break from staring at the back of Lance’s head, Keith looks around. A breeze blows by, rustling the leaves above and brushing Keith’s hair from his face.

“You know, you should really consider pulling your hair back sometime.”

At the sound of Lance’s voice, Keith turns his head to face him; he finds Lance looking right back at him, holding a contained mushroom-flower.

“Like, I know having your hair whip around during battle makes you look cool, but doesn’t it ever get in your way?” 

“Uh… I don’t really notice it, I guess.”

Lance hums thoughtfully. “Well, if you ever want help tying it up, you know where to find me.” With a slight smile, Lance looks away from Keith and sets the containment unit down with the others.

Lance made the offer so simply, but Keith feels his skin buzz at the thought of Lance standing close enough to tie up his hair. His heart speeds up every so slightly and he wants nothing more than to stop the mission and let Lance play with his hair… and run his fingers through it… and maybe brush the hair out of the way to kiss the back of Keith’s neck-

“Yo Keith, you in the mood for a break?”

Snapping out of his reverie, Keith responds in the most coherent way he can muster. 

“Huh?”

“Do you wanna take a break from plant-collecting? Hunk packed us some leftover pizza rolls and I figured we’ve been working hard so we deserve a break.”

Keith nods. “A break sounds good.”

“Awesome,” Lance replies with a grin, then he proceeds to pull a container out of his bag.

“Is that… a little toolbox?”

“Yep, Hunk couldn’t find anything else to put the food in to keep it from being crushed. He promised that he cleaned it out before putting our food in it though. Now, let’s sit under this tree and enjoy some pizza rolls.”

Lance sits under one of the bigger trees and leans against the trunk. He motions for Keith to join him and pats the spot next to him. 

Okay Keith, let’s just stay calm and not say anything stupid. Sitting next to Lance is not going to be a problem, Keith thinks to himself, steeling his resolve before joining Lance under the tree. Keith makes sure to leave a solid five inches between him and Lance as he sits.

After opening the small toolbox, Lance pops a pizza roll into his mouth. “Mmm… they’re still good, even the day after…” He holds the box out to Keith for him to take one.

“Thanks.” Keith grabs a pizza roll and eats it as well.

“Hmm, I could really go for a milkshake right now.”

“Huh?” Keith chuckles lightly. “That was kind of random…”

Lance scoffs playfully. “Craving a milkshake after eating a pizza roll is totally normal, not random at all…”

Keith shrugs. “Well I’m kind of lactose intolerant, so I can’t really agree with you there…” 

As he reaches for another pizza roll, Keith notices that Lance’s jaw has dropped and the look on his face is one of absolute befuddlement.

“Uh… why are you staring at me like that?”

“You… you’re lactose intolerant?”

“Yeah, I am…”

“You’ve never said anything about that before.”

Keith shrugs. “You never asked.”

“Oh my god!” Lance exclaims. “Why are you even eating these pizza rolls?! Pizza has cheese and cheese comes from cows and- oh my god, are you gonna die?”

The horrified look on Lance’s face makes Keith throw his head back in laughter.

“No I’m not gonna die, though I might want to if I ate a milkshake… As long as I don’t eat a bunch of these pizza rolls, I’ll be fine.”

Lance squints his eyes at Keith as if he doesn’t quite believe what he’s hearing.

Sighing softly, Keith raises his right hand and states, “I swear on the sanctity of Voltron, defender of the universe, that I am not going to die just because I ate a couple of pizza rolls.”

Satisfied with this declaration, Lance shrugs and reaches for another pizza roll. “Whatever you say, buddy. You know your body better than I do,” Lance says right before popping the pizza roll into his mouth.

I wouldn’t mind if you knew my body a little better, Keith thinks, then immediately regrets thinking. I need to knock if off with these thoughts before I-

“Hey,” Lance says, looking around through the trees. Gone is the cool, casual Lance from just a moment ago, now replaced with a more on-edge persona. “Did you hear that? I think I just heard a ship land not too far from here.”

“Oh, no I didn’t hear anything.”

Frowning slightly, Lance packs the snacks and stands. “Looks like our snack break is over. We should go check that out.”

Keith nods and gets to his feet, pulling his bayard out and looking around.

“I think whoever it is landed just beyond these trees here.” Lance points.

“Alright, do you think we should bring our plants back to the lions before we investigate? That way if we need to run or fight we’re not dragging a wagon along too…”

“Good idea, Keithy boy.” Lance grabs the wagon’s handle. “Let’s haul these guys back to the lions.”

As Lance starts walking in the direction of their lions, Keith walks after him.

“What’s up with all the nicknames lately?”

“What? You don’t like being called Keithy boy? What about Keef? Keith, my old buddy, old pal?” Lance replies with a teasing lilt to his voice.

“It’s not that I mind,” Keith says with a mild, rosy tint to his cheeks. “I was just wondering why you started up with all the nicknames…”

Lance shrugs slightly and glances back at Keith as they walk. “It just felt right. I can stop if you really want me to.”

Keith feels his cheeks fill with more blushing red. “You don’t have to stop. I don’t uh… I don’t mind.”

Lance grins and opens his mouth to reply, but his smile disappears with an instantaneousness that Keith has never seen before. In an flash, Lance is tackling Keith as a shot rings above their heads. Breathing heavily on top of Keith, Lance looks down at Keith with wide eyes and whispers. “There are galra soldiers here, and they know we’re here too.”

Several levels of shock from the abruptness of the situation and the weight of Lance on top of him fill Keith’s mind so it takes him a moment to process what Lance is saying. In a hushed tone, Keith responds, “What should we do?”

Lance slides easily off of Keith, sitting up carefully and wiping away a fine line of blood pearling thinly on his tan skin. He stays crouched close to the ground as he surveys their surroundings and considers their next move.

He must’ve been scraped by a branch when he tackled me out of the way of that laser fire, Keith reflects; he feels bad that Lance got hurt taking care of him, even if it is just a superficial scratch.

“I think if I can climb one of these trees, I can cover you for long enough that you can make it to your lion with the wagon” Lance strategizes.

“But what if they shoot you out of the tree? Or you fall out of the tree and I’m not there to help you up?”

Lance gives Keith a slight smile and squeezes his shoulder reassuringly. “The foliage is thick enough to camouflage me pretty well. And if I do fall out of the tree, no sweat. Been there, done that, my friend. I’ll be fine. You just worry about our little baby plants and your own rear end, and I’ll worry about mine. I’ll get into position then when I say go, just make a break for it. Okay?”

Keith nods slowly, reiterating in his own mind that Lance is fully capable of taking care of himself. “Don’t go easy on them, Sharpshooter.”

“You know I won’t.” Lance grins. “Run like the wind, Keithy boy.” 

With that said, Lance cautiously stands and starts scaling an especially broad tree, settling himself comfortably into the branches. Lance’s bayard illuminates and forms into a rifle. Once he’s settled into position, Lance turns and flashes Keith a thumbs up. Keith returns the gesture and takes a deep breath. Grasping the wagon handle firmly, Keith waits for Lance’s signal.

Shots fire from Lance’s bayard, and Keith can hear the disgruntled noises of the galra under attack.

“Go!” Lance shouts, sending Keith sprinting. As Keith passes through the meadow they so peacefully explored earlier, he can see a pair of galra soldiers struggling to return Lance’s fire. The bold precision and success of Lance’s marksmanship brings a slight smirk to Keith’s face as he turns his head back towards the lions as he runs.

Keith nearly makes it to the lions before the galra soldiers notice him. As a blast passes right in front of his face, he activates his shield and runs harder, determined to get the plant samples that he and Lance worked so hard for to safety. Skidding to a stop in front of the red lion, Keith steals himself against a blast that hits his shield dead center. He can’t lift the wagon into the lion without the use of both of his arms, so Keith waits for another blast to make contact then deactivates his shield and quickly lifts the wagon into his lion’s mouth. He looks up just in time to see the blast that hits him right above the visor of his helmet, sending him to the ground with a hard thud. Keith’s helmet flies off a second before his head hits the ground and everything goes black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith is fine! I promise. Mild concussion at most. I hope you all enjoyed this installment. There's still more to come!


	6. Mission Accomplished?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has a concussion and Lance is sweet and helpful. 
> 
> (Second to last chapter!!)

_He was sitting under the tree with Lance again. Lance was giggling about… something. Keith wasn’t sure why exactly, but Lance’s laughter was never anything to complain about so Keith didn’t mind feeling confused._

_“Your hair,” Lance said. “It’s soaking wet.” He leaned over andbrushed Keith’s damp strands of hair behind his ear. “Silly boy,” Lance hummed softly, his hand lingering on Keith’s face. Lance felt closer than Keith thought he had every been before as he whispered to him, with a hand resting on Keith’s cheek, “You’re getting cold. I can tell. You shouldn’t have fallen in the river, silly boy. You’ll catch a cold doing that.”_

_“I’m sorry, Lance. I won’t do it again,” Keith responded, his tone hushed._

_Lance chuckled, leaning closer to whisper, “But if you hadn’t, then I couldn’t be this close to you.” He rested his other hand on Keith’s thigh, and it felt like a warmth being soaked permanently into his skin. Lance’s voice grew even softer and Keith had to lean in to hear him. “And I really, really want to be this close to you. I really want to kiss you, silly boy. Would that be alright with you? Me kissing you…”_

_“I-“ Keith’s voice got caught in his throat. Lance was so close that there was nothing else in Keith’s line of sight, so close that every particle of Keith’s body felt warmer than ever before, so close that Keith felt himself go cross-eyed looking at Lance’s mouth, so close and so warm and so soft…_

_“Pretty, silly boy… Tell me when to stop.”_

_Lance looked into Keith’s eyes for one impossibly long moment before letting his own close shut as he leaned in to brush his lips against Keith’s._

_With only this barest of touches, Keith’s entire body was buzzing and his heart raced like it took a page from the red lion’s book. Lance pulled their lips apart and rested his forehead against Keith’s as he whispered, “Put your hands on me too. You can come closer.” Keith’s heart nearly leaps out of his chest. Lance traced small hearts into Keith’s thigh as Keith moved his hands to rest on Lance’s shoulders. Apparently satisfied, Lance once again leaned in and connected their lips with a softness Keith had never felt in his life,_

_Lance fell into a steady rhythm of moving his lips as Keith followed his lead, Then, Lance leaned back ever so slightly; Keith leaned forward to chaise Lance’s touch, but Lance tilted his head down and placed a feather-light kiss where Keith’s shirt collar ended and Keith’s skin was exposed. Sliding his hand from Keith’s cheek into his hair, Lance trailed three more kisses up the side of Keith’s neck before Keith gasped softly and tilted his hand back. Lance pulled away from Keith and brushed over Keith’s neck with his thumb, retracing the path his lips just took and making Keith shiver._

_Keith started feeling tired; his head pulsed with a dull pain. Lance cradled Keith’s face in both hands and murmured, “Not now, silly boy. You still have to wake up.”_

_~~_

Keith wakes with wide eyes and a flinch, bracing himself for a strike that doesn’t come. He sits up with a groan and holds his head in his hands, wincing at his intense headache invading the front and back of his head. Then, a warm hand rests on Keith’s shoulder and an even warmer voice asks him, “Keith? How are you feeling? You took a pretty bad fall back there…”

A fall?

Suddenly, all of the memories flood back. Galra soldiers. Plant samples. Getting hit in the head and going down. With a scratchy voice, Keith replies, “I feel like an idiot.”

This response seems to catch Lance off guard. “You feel like a… That’s not what I meant. How is your head? There was some blood earlier but after I washed it out of your hair, you stopped bleeding. So, how are you feeling?”

Although moving his head hurts, Keith takes a moment to look around. They’re in the pilot’s cabin of the red lion. “How… how did we get here?”

Sighing softly, Lance explains, “After you went down, I shot the guns out of the soldiers’ hands and then hit their bigger gun. Once they were disarmed they chickened out and left. Speaking of that, we should probably get going. There’s a good chance that they’ll radio for help.”

Keith nods, then winces, instantly regretting it. “How long have I been out?”

“Maybe 20 minutes? I’m not sure. I had to walk back to the river to get some water to clean off your wounds, and that couldn’t’ve taken too much time. Then I cleaned the blood out of your hair and you uh…”

“I what?”

“You uh… Just, said my name a couple of times, kind of like you were having a weird dream or something.”

Despite his headache, Keith’s eyes go wide. Memories of his concussion-induced dream flood Keith’s mind: the warm touches, the closeness, the _kisses_.

 _Oh my god if Lance knew about that dream, he’d probably feel so uncomfortable_ , Keith thinks.

“Keith? Space to Keith? Are you okay? You look kind of sick. We should really get you back to the castle so Coran can check you out and see if you need the healing pod.”

Keith’s eyes burn holes into Red’s floor, avoiding eye contact. He mutters, “Yeah, sure. You’re right.”

~~

The very first thing Keith does when they return to the castle is walk the plant samples to Pidge. Lance walks with him, periodically asking how Keith’s head feels, if he feels woozy, if he needs or wants Lance to pull the wagon for him… All of the attention makes Keith more woozy than his possible concussion does. Throughout it all, Keith just keeps his eyes focused on the ground and nods, mumbling the occasional “okay” in reply to Lance; just because Keith is frustrated doesn’t mean that Lance deserves to be totally ignored. So, Keith, as politely as he can, let’s Lance walk with him to Pidge’s workspace and then to the infirmary to have Coran check out his head injury.

“Well my boy,” Coran starts, “it seems that you have a mild concussion, but it’s nothing that requires stuffing you in the healing pod. Just eat up and rest for now, and come back if you start feeling worse.”

Keith nods.

“Thanks, Coran. We’ll go find him something to eat,” Lance replies in Keith’s stead.

As they leave the infirmary, Lance rambles casually about what they might find for Keith to eat when Keith interrupts him.

“Lance…”

“Yeah, Keith?”

“I’m not really in the mood to eat. I’m gonna go to my room and nap or something,” Keith explains, staring at the floor rather than at Lance’s slightly confused face.

“Um, alright… Do you want me to bring food by your room later?”

“I’ll be fine. Thanks though.”

“Yeah, no problem man. I uh, hope you get to feeling better.”

“Yeah, thanks… for everything.”

With those words, Keith turns the other way and walks towards his room, leaving behind him a confused and concerned Lance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're almost at the end here, folks. Thanks for reading! Tune in next week for the final installment of Keith's Demisexual Journey :)


	7. Sweet Dreams (are made of these)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has a lot to get off his chest, and Lance is a great listener.
> 
> The final installment! It's all led up to this scene. Keith is gonna tell Lance.

Keith doesn’t nap. Instead he rips apart paper form a spare notebook and stares at the ceiling while laying flat on his back in bed.

“Ugh,” Keith mutters. “I’m so stupid. Lance could’ve gotten hurt today while I was too busy focusing on him to worry about what I was supposed to be doing!”

Keith rolls over onto his stomach, monologuing into his pillow. “This is ridiculous. I’ve got to stop thinking like this. That dream that I had…” Keith feels his face heat up. “This isn’t fair to Lance. He had to work twice as hard on this mission so that he could save my stupid self from something worse than a mild concussion. I have to do something about this…”

As he sits up and holds his face in his hands glumly, a thought enters Keith’s mind: _Should I tell him?_

But how? How is Keith supposed to explain to Lance that he wants… Well, he doesn’t know what he wants. To hold Lance’s hand? To be able to sit close to Lance without feeling like he’s doing something wrong? To have Lance look at Keith like he looked at all of those flowers? To… to kiss Lance?

This is impossible. Keith doesn’t even know _what_ to say and he doesn’t think that he has the courage to either. But, it’s just Lance, right? Lance who is understanding and compassionate and loves to help people. He wouldn’t laugh in Keith’s face, right?

A quiet knock raps against Keith’s door before he can come up with an answer.

“Keith? You still sleeping? I have food,” Lance says quietly. The way that Lance is mindful about the fact that Keith was (supposedly) napping makes Keith’s heart squeeze within his chest.

Before Keith can psych himself out, he responds, “I’m awake, Lance. You can come in.”

The door opens and Lance enters carrying a tray of food and wearing a small, inviting smile that makes Keith feel like he’s the one being invited into the room, not the other way around.

“Hey man, I hope you’re feeling better. I brought you something that kinda seems like a soup? That sounded like a good comfort food to me. I was going to bring more pizza rolls or something but I wasn’t sure how many of those your stomach could handle within 24 hours. I also brought some food goo if you’d prefer that to the soup stuff…”

Once again, Keith is taken aback by how thoughtful Lance is. If Keith had gotten his own food, he would’ve grabbed the easiest thing and just gone with that, but Lance had gone through the trouble of finding multiple options for Keith and was even thoughtful of his dietary needs!

_You’re incredible, Lance_ , Keith thinks. _You take care of everyone around you… You deserve someone that would take care of you too._

_Could- could I be that person?_

“Uh, Keith? You hungry? If you’re not, I can take the tray back, but you haven’t eaten anything since those pizza rolls so I figure you must be hungry.”

Keith can’t help but smile slightly. “I could eat. Could you set the tray on my desk? Uh, please?”

“Sure thing, Keith,” Lance replies as he sets the tray carefully on Keith’s desk.

Keith sits down and digs right in. He scarfs down the food goo in record time then moves on to the soup, slurping up the broth.

Lance chuckles. “Guess you were pretty hungry, huh…?” he remarks teasingly. The tips of Keith’s ears flush pink.

“Uh.. yeah, I guess I was. Thank you, Lance.”

“You’re welcome.” Lance smiles warmly at Keith. As he looks Keith over, however, his facial expression grows more pensive. “So, can um… we talk? Sort of…” Seeing concern etch into Keith’s face, Lance hurriedly continues, “It’s nothing serious! Well, I mean, it’s not bad. I just…” Lance sighs softly and shuffles his feet, running his fingers back through his hair.

Is Lance… nervous?

He clears his throat. “Sorry, let me restart. I just wanted to ask if you were okay, but like… _really_ okay, you know? You seemed kind of off after you woke up, and I mean that makes sense with the concussion and all, but… You were there for me after the space mall and I really want to be there for you. So, are you okay? Anything you need to get off your chest? I’ve been told that I’m a pretty good listener.”

There is a joking lilt in Lance’s voice at the end of his speech, as if he wants to lighten the mood, but throughout the rest of it he was heavily sincere. Keith isn’t sure what to do with all of this genuine caring directed at him.

“I, uh… Thanks for caring. That, that means a lot.”

Lance nods. “Of course, Keith. I want to make sure that you’re okay…” He sits at the foot of Keith’s bed.

Keith nods, heart pounding nervously. _How am I supposed to respond to that? Should I tell him how I’ve really been feeling? He’s being really honest and nice. He won’t be mean about my feelings; at least, I don’t think that he would be…_

Lance fidgets nervously with his hands. “You don’t have to feel pressured to talk to me if you don’t want to. I just want you to know that I’m here to listen and that you’re not alone…”

Keith looks at Lance, staring for a moment at his eyes, his hair, they way he sits at the foot of Keith’s bed like he belongs there… Suddenly, the words launch themselves right out of Keith’s mouth.

“I really like your hands!”

From the look on Lance’s face, Keith can tell that Lance isn’t expecting to hear that.

Lance briefly looks at his hands, front and back. “Uh… Thank you…?”

Keith sighs heavily and stands up from his desk chair. “That is not at all what I wanted to say. Not that it isn’t true! You’re hands are, um, nice. But I mean- the point is I…” Keith can feel his heart trying to beat out of his chest and his knees are growing less steady each second. His lungs feel like he just ran a marathon without stopping and- “I can’t breathe,” he says softly. Lance stands up.

“You um… If you don’t want- You don’t have to-“

“Lance.” Keith’s voice shakes slightly. “I want to. I-“ Keith takes a deep breath in and lets it out slowly. “I need to. I’ve been acting really weird lately and you deserve to know why…”

Lance nods slowly and once again takes a seat on Keith’s bed, giving Keith the chance to speak. Keith title his head down slightly, letting his hair fall over his eyes and breaking eye contact with Lance; he shifts uncomfortably on his feet as he starts to talk.

“I- Well, there’s no comfortable way to say this but I… sort of… have a fixation with you? No, that makes it sound creepy. You make me feel… squeezy? Squishy… Like sometimes when you’re really close or you laugh or something then my chest feels funny and my face feels all red and hot and I have a hard time concentrating. And I’ve never really felt like this before, so I’ve been really confused? Like when I look at you, I want to do stuff like fix your hair when it sticks up or stand kind of close to you and maybe even hold your hand. And I dunno… I just- you make me feel like a really weird sense of really comfortable and really nervous. Like I like when you’re around but it also feels like my heart’s gonna beat out of my chest and my mouth gets dry and I can’t focus. Like on the mission. You were there and shooting back those soldiers, and you were so amazing. I got too caught up in thinking about you, so I messed up and ugh, I still can’t believe I did that.” Keith sighs. “I’m making this too complicated. What I’m trying to say is that I… like.. you…”

Once he finally gets all of the words out, Keith chances a look at Lance, and is surprised to find him with his mouth hanging open and staring at Keith like he’s seeing a shark juggle, or something equally surprising.

Keith’s eyes meeting his own snaps Lance out of his reverie. When he speaks, Lance’s voice soundsunused, like he hasn’t spoken in hours.

“Keith, I-“

“You don’t have to say anything,” Keith interrupts, holding his hands up at Lance as if he’s holding him at bay. “You don’t have to say anything at all. You could even just leave right now if you want to.” Keith looks firmly at the floor, his hands hanging in loose fists at his sides. “You don’t need to worry about not hurting my feelings. I’m sure I can get over it and-“

“What if I don’t want you to get over it?”

Keith’s mouth clamps shut and his eyes widen as his gaze whips up to look at Lance, who is standing and slowly making his way toward Keith.

“What if…” Lance starts slowly, as if he’s choosing his words with care. He takes one of Keith’s hands in both of his own and gently uncurls Keith’s fist. Keith can’t stop himself from inhaling sharply, gasping at the contact. Lance looks at Keith’s hand like it’s something delicate. “What if I like your hands too?”

“Do- you do?” Keith stutters, his mouth so dry that the words stick to the back of his throat.

Lance reaches for Keith’s other hand, letting their hands hang down in entwined pairs.

“The first person I told about the mission was Hunk,” Lance admits. “He offered to go with me, but I told him that I wanted to ask you to come with me…”

“Why?” Keith asks quietly.

“Well,” Lance lets out a soft chuckle. “What’s more romantic than going to a planet and picking flowers?”

Keith can hear the smile in Lance’s voice without needing to see it, but he looks anyways. The expression on Lance’s face takes Keith’s breath away. It’s deeper and gentler than any of the looks he ever gave Eva or those flowers or anything or anyone else.This expression buries itself in Keith’s long-term memory and leaves him speechless.

_How can Lance’s eyes hold so much warmth when they’re a cool color?_

“You’re not the only one around here that’s been craving some hand-holding,” Lance says teasingly, making Keith’s cheeks flush.

“You’re holding my hands right now.”

Lance grins, squeezing Keith’s hands slightly. “I am. Is that okay?”

Keith nods, and Lance hums.

“Would it still be okay if I kissed you?”

Keith tenses, and Lance takes a small step back.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything you’re not comfortable with. But, if that becomes something your interested in, you should let me know.”

Lance winks and lifts Keith’s hand to his mouth, leaving a light kiss on the back of his hand. Keith’s toe’s curl in his boots. Lance smiles and lets go of Keith’s hands.

“Are you feeling better?”

“Am I… yeah. Yeah, I feel better.”

“Good, now that we’ve both managed to get some things off our chests, you should really get some rest. We had a long day.”

Keith nods. “So, good night?”

“Yeah, good night, Keith.”

Lance glances at Keith’s door then hesitates, looking back over Keith’s face, almost like he’s forgotten something.

“Would it be alright if I kissed your cheek? You um… You can say no.” Lance’s cheeks flush lightly.

_He’s so cute. I can hardly believe this is happening,_ Keith thinks.

“Yes,” he replies. “That would be alright.” Keith smiles, his chest feeling warm and full.

With a look at Keith’s face to confirm that he has permission, Lance smiles, cups the side of Keith’s face, and leans over to gently but firmly press his lips against Keith’s cheek. Keith’s eyes blink closed for a moment as he hums contently.

“Good night Keith, for real this time,” Lance says with his usual hint of jokiness; he let’s his hand brush down Keith’s arm as he steps away, heading towards the door.

“Good night, Lance. Thanks for… everything,” Keith responds, hoping that Lance catches on to his underlying sentiments.

Before the door can close, Lance smiles sincerely at Keith once more.

“Anytime, Keith. Sweet dreams.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I put some real thought and effort into this and I appreciate all of the comments, kudos, and just people reading it at all.
> 
> Special shout out to all of my asexuals, demisexuals, and other asexual spectrum people out there! 
> 
> Also, I don't know when I'll find the time to write again, but feel free to share any fic ideas you might have in the comments! Or tell me how you felt about reading my fic :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> (Hopefully I will post on Mondays or something like that.)
> 
> My main goal with this fic was to promote demisexuality. There's a disappointingly low about of demi content out there, and I want to change that! Much love to the demisexuals and asexual spectrum people out there!!


End file.
